he'd been in the pentagon. he said, i know those boys in the pentagon, and he knew they hyped the threat, that if they wanted weapon systems they didn't necessarily need, they would find an excuse to get them, and he knew enough to resist, and this is a very hard thing to do in the winter of 1958 when everybody is banging on him to build more weapons and build up our forces. .. >> he was a very smart guy. but in his press conferences, he often would speak in a kind of rambling, slightly incoherent way. it was intentional. once before a press conference in 1955 and aides were saying, oh, you've got to be careful about this question. and he said, oh, don't worry, i'll just confuse them. [laughter] and he did. i notice his memos were all clear as a bell. he was a very clear thinker. but when he needed to, he could play dumb. most people i know, certainly me and most politicians i know, want to be the smartest guy in the room. eisenhower did not suffer from that. he was seen, afghanistan, as a -- of course, as a ge